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Yvonne's '68 Letter, WaterlooWaterloo, December 27, 1968 Dear Emilienne, It's always such a pleasure to receive your best wishes to us. You are always the first. Thank you so much. I'm glad that you are both well and Robert and his wife and children and also Aime', his wife and the boys. We really enjoy the photos you sent. What a beautiful family. I can really see the resemblance, you are all Andrisses like me. Congratulations on your 50th wedding anniversary. It's so wonderful to know that you've succeeded to make it work. I wish you both continued happiness for your future together. May you remaining days together be many! Over here, Octave continues his routine. Maurice is doing well for the moment. His particular illness is a sad one though—he has good days followed by bad ones. I was very ill with pneumonia last March. I spent all of March in the clinic [hospital], and until July was confined to home to recover. I lost 12 kilos [almost 30 pounds]. The recovery was very difficult, but then you expect that when you reach my age. I'll be 72 on March 12. In spite of it all, I'm still here. I would really love to see you all. Octave and I have put everything up for sale. It's quite abhit of money—there are plenty of buyers but their offers are too low—not enough money. However, we don't want to keep ourselves waiting. The land at Binches is selling little hy little. We still have the cinema, which is our only source of income. Itls quite cold in Belgium right now—it's been snowing the past two days. We've been following the reports on the astronauts. I really admire them. We learned that the youngest daughter of Aunt Alida has died. She was 60. Alida had two daughters, Laure and Paulette. The other cousins are doing well, though we hardly ever see them. Aunt Ermelinne, who still lives in Nantes, is now in a sanitarium because of [psychological problems]. That's all the news for now. My warmest regards to you both. Give the children our love. Your cousin, Yvonne |